At almost all of the major art and memorabilia auction houses, sellers AND buyers pay a commission to the auction house. The buyers’ part is called the “buyer’s premium.” To date, there has not been a buyer’s premium on domain name auctions, beyond the 2.5% fee NameJet began charging in 2016.
I am curious to know how people would feel if a buyer’s premium was added to live domain name auctions.
While buyers might balk at agreeing to an additional fee, they would understand this going into the auction and adjust their bidding accordingly. Having this fee shift could be advantageous, assuming the commission fee would be reduced for sellers. Reducing the current 25% sale commission for live auctions to 15% and adding a 10% premium to buyers may entice more sellers to list their domain name for sale via auction. Having a better selection of domain names at auction would be nice.
Would you be ok with this change?